Librarian for Day
by Jean Cooper
Summary: Mary isn't feeling to well, and Gray offers to run the library for the rest of the day so she can rest. Problem there have never been this many patrons in the library before! Oneshot Grary!


Ummm…hi!! First HM fan-fiction posted. I don't own Harvest Moon. Just my copy of MFOMT, my GBA, and my GameCube…I'm working on kidnapping Gray and Kai from Natsume( or whoever is in charge). Does anyone want to help me? LOL.

Anyway...this is a challenge reply from the Village Square's Writing Game Forum to the challenge made by moonlit dreaming. You didn't specify illness…so …this is what you get. Anyone interested in writing and needs ideas feel free to check it out and take up a challenge. Pay attention to the rules though, (I heard Scarlet can be really mean if you break the rules… ;P…that is what they said anyway..She'll delete you like the MIB does. :D)

Rated T for language (I'm not sure what the appropriate level is for the minor bad words to be used…but T for safety)

It was a sunny summer Thursday morning, mid morning to be precise, and the birds were chirping happily in the field of farm to the right of the Blacksmith's Shop when a khaki clad young man exited. He looked up to the cloudless sky, eyes knitting together in irritation. He removed his trademark blue hat, revealing his disheveled light auburn red hair.

"It's entirely to hot in there to train on my **day off**," he grumbled to himself out loud, stressing the 'day off' louder in hopes his voice would reach the ears of his grandfather just to annoy him. He wiped the preparation on his forehead with his khaki covered forearm, and shook his head as if to bring his thoughts back to reality. The movement caused his bangs to fall over his eyes, and he glared at his 'desperately in need of a trim' hair obstructing his view before releasing a burst of air from his mouth upwards, sending it back to its original position and securing it with his hat. He started down the path that lead further into Mineral Town. But to this said young man, all he knew was this was the way to the wondrous library.

His thoughts drifted to the library, full of hundreds upon hundreds of books, and a girl. He was really looking forward to continuing the book he had started reading yesterday…what was it about? Something about a somebody…he couldn't remember who…or even if it was man or a woman…traveling around the world in search of some legendary treasure…or maybe they were trying to win a bet. ..oh who cares.

What the said young man was really looking forwards to was the sweet smile of the Librarian. He didn't have time for reading comprehension when he was trying to watch her from over the top of his book. He couldn't pay attention to the characters in the fantasy world he held in his hand when someone …of the opposite gender …entranced him in his own world. Her name, of course, was Mary.

Not to say the said young man didn't have time to concoct his own fantasies of Mary and himself. Often he would place her image in that of the female character's that he read about. He also had found himself devising fabrications of confessing his tender feeling to Mary as of late…

"………." He let out a long sigh, shoving his hands deep into his pockets as he looked at the ground, his hat brim covering his blushing face from anyone he might pass. He stood in front of the library door, about to enter when his ear's picked up a groan…and very painful and very feminine groan. He opened the door quickly, spotting the object of his affection splayed across her desk, glasses to the side her. It appeared one hand was wrapped around her lower abdomen while the other held the back of her unkempt raven head, her face buried in the crook of the arm that cupped her head soothingly.

"M...Mary" he said, unsure of why the usually immaculately groomed woman was dressed in gray(no pun intended) sweatpants and a very large white t-shirt.

Mary shifted her head, squinting up at the face as she registered a bluish blur. She had no desire to reach for her glasses, afraid any motion she might take might send her into another painful cramp. 'it sucks to be a woman' she thought bitterly as she felt a twinge in her stomach.

"Mornin' Gray," she gritted through her teeth, returning her face to her comforting arm as the cramp intensified. She was unaware of Gray's widened eyes and look of concern. Mary was never one to use improper English. She was just not the type of person to leave of letters in words when she was in her right mind.

"Are…are you ill," he asked her quietly, walking to the side of the desk and kneeling down, looking at her worriedly.

"What…" she whispered, his unusual proximity to her person causing her to grab her glasses to check that this was in fact Gray and not an imposter with his hat. After all, Gray hardly ever got this close to her when he came. Upon assuring her mind that it was in fact the adorably shy and handsome blacksmith squatting next to her, she blushed.

"I asked you if you were ill," Gray said, placing a hand on her head. "You feel a little feverish." He stated, his hand resting on her shoulder.

"Y-yeah, I'm not feeling very well today," she muttered. No way in hell was she going to tell her 'not very secret to the rest of the world but still oblivious to him' crush she was starting her period. She'd die of embarrassment, and probably heartbreak…Gray would probably have a heart attack if she told him. She looked at him and blushed a little deeper at the way his sky blue eyes looked at her, concern etched in his face. "Don't worry," she murmured, trying to sound like she wasn't experiencing one of the worst cramps in her life. "It's nothing a nap won't cure," she added with a bitter laugh.

"Then why don't you," Gray whispered, his words barley registering in Mary's otherwise occupied mind.

"What…oh," she realized he was referring to the nap. "I have to run the library. If I don't no one else will," she muttered and for the first time in her life, she hated the place, but for just a brief moment. She looked back at him as he leaned closer to her, his face a few inches from her as he gave a determined grin.

"I'll do it. You go ahead and take a nap, and I'll run the library until you get up," he said, standing and pulling Mary out of her chair. He guided her un-protesting form to the door gently.

"Are you sure," she asked, looking up at him. She didn't want him cancelling any plans he might have today because of her. He smiled his very large and very rare 'did you know Gray had teeth?' smile.

"Absolutely. Don't worry about a thing," he said, and opened the door for her. He watched as she seemingly wanted to disagree and turn back in, but her face contorted slightly into a grimace.

"Very well. Thank you so much, I appreciate it," she ran into her house after the words escaped in one ran together sentence.

Gray smiled slightly and closed the door to the library. "How hard could it be," he asked himself out loud. He looked around quickly, a frown on his face. "Did I just hear…evil laughter," he muttered to himself. He shrugged his shoulders and sat down in his large comfy blue chair and picked up the book he had started yesterday. He opened it to the first page, determined to actually read a book Mary had suggested him to read when the door opened. He looked up and stared at…

"Uh, Hi… Rick…Karen," he gave a nod to the two obviously not very happy people. Karen had apparently drug Rick in by his overall strap, and his face was red enough that his light strawberry hair actually looked a light brown. Karen's emerald eyes were blazing in a silent fury as Gray stood, hoping he could quickly get whatever it was the she-demon wanted so she would just as quickly leave his sanctuary.

"I'm going to prove it to you Rick," she muttered, pulling him further into the cavern of books. She looked at Gray.

"She's sick" he grunted, shoving his hands in his pockets. Karen glared at him, pulling Rick again causing the man's spectacles to fall to the ground as his clumsy foot-though not by his own actions- landed on them.

"Karen," Rick groaned, kneeling down to pick them up, the strength of his sudden motion causing Karen to fall as she still had a pretty tight grip on his strap. Rick caught her and both of them suddenly blushed, Karen jumping away, her anger over whatever a moment ago forgotten. "Mom's going to be ticked off about my glasses" he muttered to himself, placing the crushed lenses in his palm. He looked up at Gray, and gave an embarrassed smile. "We'll…come back tomorrow, " he said and grabbed Karen's arm, dragging her still blushing form out of the library. Gray watched them leave and then his eyes came back to the small speckles of fragmented glass. He shook his head and walked around, searching.

"If I were a dustpan…" he whispered to himself, and turned as the door opened again, hoping Rick had returned to help pick up the remains of his glasses. His eyes fell on…Kai. "What are you doing here?" he asked, a little rougher than he had meant.

"Contrary to popular belief," Kai said, smirking at Gray with amusement. "I'm not just another pretty face. I learned how to read way back in elementary school" He walked past Gray's frozen form and began to climb up the stairs. Kai turned around, looking at the door expectantly. "Damn it," he growled, rubbing the back of his neck. "Rick must have seen her and dragged her home," he muttered and continued up the stairs, disappearing from view.

Gray gave a triumphant chuckle when he finally found the small dustpan and broom. He was just finishing sweeping the glass up when the door opened again, a chill running down his spine. He turned, but didn't see anyone. He could have sworn he had just heard footsteps running up the stairs to the second floor. Suddenly his gesture to help Mary had him thinking he had just made the worst mistake of his life. He shook of his paranoia and ditched the glass in the trash can.

'The damn library had never had this many people come in on the same day. Never.' Gray glared as the door opened again. "Jack," he acknowledged his friend.

"Hey Gray…do you know if Kai and Claire are here," he asked, ignoring the aggravated scowl on Gray's face.

"Kai' upstairs," Gray jerked his head to the stairs, returning to his book as Jack went to the second floor. Gray raised an eyebrow as he thought he heard roaring laughter, followed by a 'ghaa' and a loud crashing noise.

"What now," Gray grumbled, angrily climbing the stairs and opening the door to the second floor. "What are you doing up here?! What is with all the noise?!" he bellowed and stepped further into the room. Suddenly his eyes widened as he saw Kai and Jack, both gagged and tied into chairs. He couldn't help it, despite how unfunny it must seem to them, he laughed. Gray laughed so hard he fell to his knees holding his sides. "What happened," he finally gasped, and the lights went off. Gray wasn't finding this amusing anymore, and turned as the door slammed shut. He grabbed the handle and snatched it. The door was locked from the outside. He felt for the switch, and his hand felt a small fleshy object over it.

"NOW!" a small voice screamed out and Gray felt something stout and tiny tackle his legs while something else jumped from up high onto his shoulders. The attackers caused him to tumble to the floor, knocking the wind out of him. He was stunned long enough for the two munchkins to drag him to a third chair on the other side of Kai, and restrain him to it while placing a cloth around his mouth. He was really pissed off when the lights came back on, revealing…May and Stu, dressed up like Indians.

Cheese and rice….10 year olds had taken him down. What was he? Two ten year olds took down three grown men…well…they surprised them. That was the story Gray was going to stick to if any of this got out.

"There. We got three of them to play with us. So let's go!" Stu yelled excitedly as he began to skip and dance around his captives, making the high pitched Indian sound little kids make. He was joined by May after a few moments…and that is how the next few hours went. Gray, Kai, and Jack exchanging painful glances every five minutes, praying that someone would come to their rescue, but for the first time that day, the library received no more out of the ordinary visitors.

Claire and Popuri were both wheezing as they grabbed the handle of the library door, at about two minutes till four, hoping Kai and Jack were still in there. They paused as they heard the door to her left opening and Mary stepped out, looking a hell of a lot better than Claire had seen her yesterday.

"You feeling better," Claire asked, smiling at Mary's out of the shower appearance, her wet hair pulled back into her signature braid. She look refreshed and cramp free.

"Yes. It was nice of Gray to watch the library to help me out today," Mary said, blushing bright red as Claire and Popuri stared at her wide eyed.

"Wow…you must really love him…to leave your books in his care," Popuri whispered and Claire nodded in agreement. Mary pushed her glasses up and brushed passed them embarrassed, she was tuning the handle and stopped, holding up her hand for silence as she heard loud noises that should never be coming from the library. Claire and Popuri heard them as well, and they quietly snuck in the library, following the noises to their origin. They opened the door on the second floor, causing the room to fall silent. The girls just stared at the three men tied to chairs and gagged, why the two evil pygmies exchanged 'busted' glances.

"RUN!" Stu shouted as he and May sprinted out the door, Popuri chasing after them.

"What is wrong with you heathen children" she screamed as they cleared the library door, and gave an evil chuckle as she saw that Elli has seen who had been yelled at, and grabbed the oblivious Stu by the ear a wee bit violently. He didn't have the chance to slow down because he had been sticking his tongue out as he looked over his shoulder at Popuri. She slammed the door to the library and returned up the stairs where Mary and Claire had removed the gags from the captive men.

"Thank Goddess," Kai muttered as Claire looked at him with a mixture of amusement and concern. "One more minute of that…and I would have started beating my head against this shelf. Claire giggled and glanced over at Mary, who had kneeled to untie a silent Gray's hands.

"Mary," Claire called and Mary looked over to Claire. He gaze followed Popuri who lunged around Jack wrapping him in a tight hug.

"My poor wittle Jackie," she said, kissing his cheek. Claire cleared her throat as Mary looked at her again.

"I don't Know about you Mary, but I'm going to take advantage of the situation," Claire winked at Mary before turning to Kai and covering his lips with her own for a deep kiss.

Mary blushed as her fingers almost untied the knot around Gray's hands. She stopped and stood, leaning in front of Gray with a sudden assertiveness she had never had before. She pulled his hat off and leaned in close to his shocked but blushing face. She smiled at him sweetly, her face a few inches from his as she took of her glasses, placing them in the hat and dropping it to the floor. She knew she was probably cherry red, but there was no turning back now. "I'm sorry for taking advantage of the situation," she whispered as she turned her head, leaning forward as she spoke softly into his ear. Her small hand cupped his opposite cheek and pushed his face to her. She pressed her lips against his softly, her eyes fluttering shut. A few moments later she heard a snapping sound and suddenly was pulled into Gray's lap, his lips pressing harder against hers, his hand tilting her head so he could kiss her more to his satisfaction.

They broke apart and Mary was pulled into his warm embrace. "Don't…ever….be sorry about that." He mumbled in her ear. She gave a content smile and opened her eyes, finding four pairs of amused eyes watching them. She blushed deeply, but looked at them with the sternest look she could muster.

"I'm sorry. The library is closed!" she said loudly, causing the four occupants to laugh hysterically.

The end!

Plz read and review.


End file.
